Is college worth the cost? Should prospective college students focus on choosing an applied major that will help them earn the most money upon graduation, pursue a degree from a prestigious school, study humanities or liberal arts to cultivate their minds and potentially burden their parents financially, or consider whether attending college is the right choice for them at all? What about some combination of all of these? Here’s some guidance for making a big decision before taking a gap year, if you are wait-listed, or if you are about to apply.
1. The applied major
For many, college is a transaction: pay tuition, pass your classes, fulfill the requirements of your major, and get a job when you graduate. Partially dictated by whether parents help foot the bill or not, if students attend college, many feel that they should have something beyond a piece of paper to show for it. The degrees are nice, but being able to take care of yourself is the far-reaching return on investment.
There is much to choose from in the world of applied majors that come complete with a certification in a professional field. These include: journalism and communications not creative writing; pharmacy doctorates not biochemistry majors; teaching how not doing; paralegal certification not pre-law studies; accounting not mathematics (although this is changing slowly); graphic design not art; nursing not pre-med; or even business not economics; and, of course, let’s not forget the latest popular pathway to STEM success: engineering.
For those college graduates without an applied major, there are only so many administrative assistant, customer service, or other white-collar office jobs available, and there is keen competition for those by recent graduates and those with more experience. The system educated us to believe that a degree, any degree, from a college made you better than those without one.
Those individuals who have been diligently working, however, gained real world experience as: civil servants; trade-educated and apprenticed electricians, carpenters, construction workers, and plumbers; contractors; plant managers; gardeners and landscape architects; assistant retail managers and assistant restaurant managers; beauticians and barbers; mechanics; realtors and property managers; social media content writers and influencers; and merchandisers, to name a few popular options open to those who don’t go the college route.
2. The power and prestige of a top college
You earned high grades and engaged in various extracurricular activities, demonstrating that you were not only among the top ten percent academically but also well-rounded, which contributed to your selection from other exceptional candidates. This, you thought, set you above the rest and predicted, no, guaranteed, your success.
When you arrived on campus and started socializing, you quickly learned that you were no longer the best, but one of many. Everyone around you was a competitor, and you had a choice. Try anyway and fail due to your inability to successfully compete among the top ten percent of the students, or let go of your delusions of grandeur after quickly realizing that you were no longer the cream of the crop, and choose an easier, less competitive college major.
You’d have to settle for the least difficult major so that you could manage to tread water until you could somehow manage to graduate. You could have the degree but lose your dreams. You would receive a top education, but nothing more.
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A degree from a prestigious top college may open doors initially, but after a few years in the workforce, where you attended college often becomes a topic of casual conversation. At that point, it usually offers little significant advantage or added value. What matters more is whether you can prove your worth and reach or exceed your work goals. Additionally, what counts is how good you are at driving the mission and positively affecting the bottom line.
Having a degree from a prestigious college can actually work against you in the job market. When you compete for a position, you might be perceived as overqualified, seem entitled, or create concerns that you could come in, take control, and outshine others. This can raise expectations for performance, potentially lead to burnout, and result in you moving on to another job. Lastly, graduating from a top college as a person of color may lead to resentment from an employer who views you as an affirmative action hire—someone who took the place of a more qualified candidate based on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) considerations.
For Black graduates who earn a degree from a prestigious college, their qualifications help them secure interviews and be seen as deserving candidates alongside others from the majority culture. However, they often face competition from less educated candidates who may receive higher pay and quicker promotions. While earning a degree can provide opportunities, it often feels challenging to fully capitalize on them. Graduate men and women of color seeking employment typically face higher expectations to know more, perform better, and deliver exceptional results, yet they often earn less and work harder than their peers. Moreover, they often have limited access to valuable mentorship, face barriers to rapid advancement, and encounter inequities in pay and promotion based on merit.
3. Are the liberal arts or humanities still relevant?
For those who do not choose a major with a strong connection to the job market, the relevance of liberal arts or humanities can seem diminished. They are great for developing one’s mind and helping students find themselves, but those in favor of applied majors might cite the cost of college as too high for such self-exploration on their parents’ dime.
For Black male and female students, there is a heavier burden: the need to justify the link between education and pay, lacking the luxury of pursuing knowledge purely for its own sake. Black students may have to think about making sure they don’t squander the opportunity and ruin the chances for others who come after them in their family to have access to it as well.
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4. The impact of falling employment rates for Black men and women
Black individuals often face the greatest challenges when determining whether attending college is worth the expense. Education has been linked to success, but the current trend shows falling employment rates for Black men and Black women resulting in a greater job loss.
Factors such as: automation, AI-driven disruption, job losses in government and other sectors, historical and systemic factors like discrimination and lack of access to education and resources, and a dip in Black women’s labor force participation are a mixed bag of hard choices. Choose to earn immediately, albeit at a lower rate, or delay and enhance your earning potential by investing in college and obtaining additional qualifications. The question remains a chicken or egg conundrum that access to education could help, but even with access, it’s still a challenge for Black people to complete their degrees or achieve parity in the workplace.
Education has been so instrumental in leveling the playing field for all people of color, although to different degrees of success. For Black individuals, completing educational requirements—once limited to high school and now extending to at least some college—provides the best opportunity to compete in various industries within the labor market. This educational attainment offers significant advantages in both the classroom and the professional world.
The cost of college extends beyond tuition, books, and fees; it involves the investment in our future to secure a place in the labor market. We should not settle for the scraps we are given when we are excluded from education, whether by choice, financial limitations, or the misleading notion that higher education is no longer relevant or valuable, especially at a time when it is crucial for Black communities. Education is hope and helps to make progress. It represents the opportunity to overcome the impacts of falling employment for Black men and Black women, for example.
The cost of college is worth it for the choices it makes possible and the opportunity to develop one’s potential to move forward. Consideration of the cost of college as not worth it for Blacks comes at a critical socio-economic and political juncture that threatens the loss of costly fought-for victories that were too hard to gain and are growing increasingly a struggle to preserve as a people with a history of resilience in dire straits.
When it comes to college, it is more important than ever for Black students to pursue higher education. This pursuit offers both promising opportunities and challenges as they seek secure and ongoing employment. Jobs with or without higher education are a struggle. Despite the barriers faced before, during, and after college, those who persevere and earn their degree find that education is always worthwhile since it can never be taken away.
The cost of college is more than a financial one for those with the option, or for those who have to fight harder for the opportunity. It’s definitely worth the cost for Black students who will next enter a workforce that is already failing Black men and Black women, with and without college degrees. Unfortunately, new graduates are more likely than others to experience negative outcomes in their work lives, but they are not excused from making an effort.
College does not define a person’s worth, but it provides an advantage that can improve their chances of overcoming disadvantages they may face in the job market. It determines one’s work for provision. It determines one’s protection of the jobs they can get, have, and keep. It determines the peace of mind that enables achievement, opens upward mobility, and supports quality of life. No matter what one’s chosen profession, it’s a pathway to personal rewards.
